Part 1 - John Adams
Good morning Thomas, I hope that this house suits you well. For me, it has been a lonely, frustrating existence. But for you, I see the promise of a new day. Though we differ on political theory and politics, I truly wish you good fortune.
... what follows is a tradition called the Presidential breakfast as an outgoing POTUS entertains the incoming POTUS on inauguration day ....
The last thing that I leave you with Thomas is to always place the needs of our country, the union that binds us, ahead of personal or political affiliation needs. This is what I did by not signing into law, that sedition act even though my own party was for it. Yes, if I had signed those, who knows, perhaps there would have been more unity within my party and you would not be here today.
Never the less, what is done is done, I have no regrets, for those acts would have set a bad example of the tyranny that we fought so long and hard against. So I leave this office and house to you. Take care and remember to place our union, our country ahead of all else.
This was the greeting that outgoing POTUS 2, John Adams to incoming POTUS 3 Thomas Jefferson the morning of Jefferson's inauguration. It would further set the precedent of the peaceful transition of power and hospitality between executive administrations. It would also mark a beginning of a correspondence between the two. Jefferson would actually count Adams as a political adviser. Someone who had opposite political views as himself, but a friend that he could trust that no longer had any deep political ambitions.